NEW CARLISLE - The Quality Food Mart was the site of a major drug raid by the Attorney General’s office in an effort to get synthetic drugs off the streets.

It was the scene of a four month investigation, and a sign of things to come.

“People are going into stores like this and selling a product that kills people” said Mike DeWine, Ohio Attorney General.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Bureau of Criminal Investigations Agents and the Attorney General’s Office were all on hand for the first raid, since the new tougher synthetic drug law hit the books in December.

The Quality Food Mart sales clerk, Fadi K. Shoukri and the store’s owner, Munir F Al Hmidat found themselves in handcuffs, after an investigation revealed illegal synthetic marijuana inside. Agents also raided one of the employee’s home as he sat in the back of a squad car.

The investigation began when the mother of a Clark County teen was arrested for possessing the drug that prompted her to tip off police.

“We’ve seen this substance called many things, bath salts, synthetic marijuana but all of these chemical concoctions have killed, they’ve destroyed lives” said Gene Kelly, Clark County Sheriff.

Before the tougher drug law took effect in December, it was hard to nab criminals for synthetic drugs because they would often change the drug mixture just enough to make it legal. Now, that is no longer the case.

“It’s a very tough law, it’s a law they’ve tried to get around by changing the composition, we now have a law that covers things like this” said DeWine.

Another synthetic drug raid happened in eastern Ohio. The raids in both New Carlisle and east Ohio are just the beginning of a long-term effort to combat the growing synthetic drug problem.

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